For photographers who travel light
Photograph with me

Prompts for looking closely

These are the prompts I give myself when I want to see a place properly. They aren't the usual photo challenges; they're the ideas that shape my own photography. Each one comes with a tip for making the shot and a few ideas if you're stuck. Try one on your next walk, one a day, or all of them on a trip.

Six of them are free to print as A pocket guide to travel photography: a mini zine that folds from a single sheet of paper into a booklet small enough for your camera bag.

Download the zine (PDF) See the prompts

PDF, 1 page, A4 landscape. Folds into an 8-page zine.

Print and fold your zine

  1. PrintPrint the PDF on A4 or Letter paper, one side only, landscape, at "Fit to page".
  2. CreaseFold the sheet in half, then in half again, then once more, so it's creased into eight panels. Unfold it.
  3. CutFold it in half across the short side, and cut along the dashed line marked "cut": from the fold to the middle, through the centre two panels only.
  4. FoldOpen it out, then fold it in half the long way with the printing on the outside.
  5. PushHold the ends and push them towards each other. The cut opens into a diamond. Keep pushing until it collapses into a booklet, and fold it closed with the cover on the front.
In the zine

A pocket guide to travel photography

01

Abstraction

As you go about your day, look for something you can photograph in a way that makes it unrecognisable. Turn the familiar into something unexpected.

Shot tipMove closer, change your angle or focus on a small detail. Look for shapes, lines, colours and textures that become something entirely different when removed from their original context. The aim is to make an image that invites you to look, rather than immediately recognise what you're seeing.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • The corner of a painted sign, cropped tight
  • Ripples on a canal or harbour
  • Railings, stairs or scaffolding seen from below
02

Texture

Find a surface that tells a story: peeling paint, torn posters, weathered plaster or layers of graffiti. Look for the marks left behind by time, weather and human activity.

Shot tipLook for light falling across the surface from the side to reveal its texture and depth. Move around, experiment with your angle and notice how colours, marks and layers come together to form an abstract composition.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • Layers of torn posters on a hoarding
  • Graffiti painted over again and again
  • Weathered shutters on an old shopfront
03

Motion

Let something move while you stay still.

Shot tipSlow your shutter to around 1/15 second, brace against a wall, and photograph people walking, traffic or water. Keep one thing sharp: a sign, a doorway, a person standing still.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • Commuters crossing a station concourse
  • Scooters through a busy intersection
  • Water in a fountain or a river
04

Reflections

Photograph the world in something else: a puddle, a shop window, a car door.

Shot tipFocus on the reflection, not the surface it's in. After rain, crouch low so a puddle fills the bottom of the frame.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • Buildings upside down in a puddle
  • A street layered over a shop window
  • The sky on a car roof or bonnet
05

Ordinary

Make the most ordinary thing you'll see today look worth a second look.

Shot tipSlow down and walk around your subject. Try it from below, from above and from very close, then pick the angle nobody usually sees it from.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • Your room key on the bedside table
  • The bus stop outside where you're staying
  • Washing hung from a balcony
06

Closer

Get closer than feels comfortable. Then take one more step.

Shot tipLook for details you might usually overlook: a crack in a wall, the texture of fabric, the curve of a leaf or the marks on someone's hands. Experiment with distance and perspective to reveal something unexpected in an otherwise familiar subject.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • The weave of a basket at a market
  • A stallholder's hands at work (ask first)
  • Lichen on an old stone wall
On the website

More prompts

07

Frame within a frame

Look through something: a doorway, a window, an arch, a gap in a fence.

Shot tipLet the foreground frame sit darker than your subject, and wait for something to happen inside it: a person walking past, a bird landing.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • A street through a café window
  • A courtyard through an archway
  • A garden through a gate
08

Pattern

Find something that repeats, then find where the pattern breaks.

Shot tipFill the frame so the pattern runs off every edge. Then look for the one tile, window or chair that's different, and make it the subject.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • Tiles on a floor or wall
  • Stacked café chairs
  • Windows on an apartment block
09

Layers

Make a photo with something near, something in the middle and something far away.

Shot tipPut an object close to the lens at the edge of the frame, your subject in the middle, and a background that shows where you are. Use f/8 or so to keep more in focus.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • A market seen past hanging goods
  • A street through a window frame
  • A view past someone's shoulder
10

Blue hour

Go out just after sunset, when the sky turns deep blue and the lights come on.

Shot tipBlue hour is short, often 20 to 40 minutes. Brace the camera or use a small tripod, keep the ISO as low as you can, and balance the sky against the lit windows and signs.

Ideas if you're stuck
  • Lit shopfronts
  • A street with car lights
  • Windows glowing in a building

Made something you love? I'd like to see it. Find me on Instagram at @broneager.

Download the zine (PDF)Read the guides